You may not use the terms “Youthquake”, “antifa” and “broflake” in day-to-day conversations, but chiefs at the Oxford Dictionaries say they are some of the words which will define 2017.

A climate of political unrest and awakening among millennial voters has led to the word “youthquake” becoming Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year.

Referring to the rallying of young people by Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party during this year’s General Election, the term saw a 400% increase in usage as 2017 saw the youth generation drive political change.

But the word has now resurrected in a new political context, partly due to the General Election and a reported rise in the number of young voters.

Crowd wait for the Colwyn Bay visit by Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday (Image: Robert parry-Jones)

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries, said: “Youthquake may not seem like the most obvious choice for Word of the Year, and it’s true that it’s yet to land firmly on American soil, but strong evidence in the UK calls it out as a word on the move.

“We chose youthquake based on its evidence and linguistic interest. But most importantly for me, at a time when our language is reflecting our deepening unrest and exhausted nerves, it is a rare political word that sounds a hopeful note.

“Sometimes you pick a word as the Word of the Year because you recognise that it has arrived, but other times you pick one that is knocking at the door and you want to help usher it in.

“This past year calls for a word we can all rally behind.”

PICTURE POSED BY MODEL. File photo dated 14/03/07 of a man reading a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of English. "Post-truth" has been named as Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year after a spike in its use around the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's presidential bid. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday November 16, 2016. Usage of the adjective, which describes circumstances where emotions and personal beliefs are more influential than facts, increased by around 2,000% since last year, the dictionary's research showed. See PA story SOCIAL PostTruth. Photo credit should read: Ian Nicholson/PA Wire (Image: Ian Nicholson/PA)

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The shortlist also contained the words “broflake” - a label for a man who is readily upset or offended by progressive attitudes that conflict with his more conventional or conservative views - and “newsjacking” - defined as taking advantage of current events to promote a brand.

Also on the list was “milkshake duck”, a “person or thing that initially inspires delight on social media but is soon revealed to have a distasteful or repugnant past” and “white fragility”, which defined as “discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice”.